St. Landry democrat., 1887-05-07
NUMBER IL.
DO.DRECHT.
a City in Which Nine-Tenths of the Housss.
Are Two Hundred Years Old.


Are Two Hundred Years Old. ,
)ororccht is not city OF sights II!
has no famous cathedral. no Renais-,
Sancc Hotel de Vile. no museums. MOI
historic remains IN particular. lis in.
tereSt is purely pictorial. ho not pre-.
tend to an extensive knowledge of Hol-
land; but | am told hv those who io
possess lha; knowledge thai this quaint:
old plac" i 10 tins day more like IN
old Dutrh city than any other place
south ot The Znvdcr Ze" 10 know
that, in HE course OF long day wan-
dcrin-~ through The narrow streets and
beside the shady canals. | counted less
than a score Of houses which looked
new. aH'i took note of 80 many dozens
uf buildings bearing date PRIOR 10 It.jU
that At las lost cOItnt. Dordrrcht is
4 rHral - If old hou>,S. brown. red
and yci'oW, brought together in tam
Fled confusion, lar~r and small elbow
mo each other Ike people in Il crowd.
I)"rt i pictures iur "~ approached by
steam from The river, but il j, Il picture
indeed When Hr>t >eon ir"m 4 railway
Station. Fne railway j. NOT ten years
old At iiorsire,ht vet, and This j.. Of
course. il" newest end Of the town.
Two or three of the brand new
French villas which are such iidcous
ubomiua' ,UH~ in tic out X 'ri~ OF every
Dutch tr"n, dot the roa, AND damp the
ar'lor Of 'ae ~itor, l'ur soon the trrle
1ortirtv:s, reveals Itself, wing straight
in front, The 'cEir.1f" spin" Oi the cathe-
dra| r.>iu- from The midst Of crow
stepped cables and autunn 1ilIted t les.
It is useless to adopt landmarks or 30
take bearings here. Na>r Hp Your
mind tu bo lost ut once. aid you will
have no fnrthcr anxiety.
In DrIirncnt there j. something new
or rather something very old. in every
street. Iho houses are tall and fantS-
t;callE @2bicd. and as the streets ara
mainly very narrow one can take aWalk
in the grateful shade on the hottest
summer gay. Nine-tenth> of the houses
are ri least two hundred years old. and
many Of them arc Il century and half
old. In many OF the buster streets and
along mo~t OF the canals. the old gables
lean iottprmGEv forward. rs though to
meet tEirjr venerable friends on thts
other side Of tn" way. The builders
men were very @in@erly demoli>hing II
fine @abrei Old place. coIored Il mellow
russell brown. which was in danger of
falling down. owing to some settlement
in the sandy shifting soil. Great figures
OF beaten IRON GImon the front atte~ted
that it was huilt in 1850. Every now and
again. in the streets Of bort, came
upon Il house large enough TO have
looked well in an English park. 4
double light ut Steps. Well-ni~h wide
enough ior the passage of the tra,li-
tional coach and >ix. led up tna massive
front door. behind which, when ii was
occasionally opened, ] caught glimpse
of Il hall ample enough 10 hold ar
eligible detached villa residence. Some
times coat ot crowded puartprin@s
was tiori,iIv Scui ptured aboyc1Ile broken
pediment OF the door: sometimes q BIT
OF alle""rical carving ornamented the
windows There are a vcrv few old
towns anywhere which have retained
the ollcn homes Of the departed mer-
chant princes III such numbers or in
such admirable preservation Us Dord-
recht.- f0sse}Fs Fon1tM -hag0:iAe.